Rough Cut Editor

The Rough Cut Editor has been designed so that you can create simple edits of video material stored in Cantemo Portal, either from one or multiple assets. This allows you to create new sequence data and enabling the following features:

• Allows users that don’t have access to a full NLE to make edit decisions

• Easy to use and requires less training that a complete NLE

• Creates sequences in Cantemo Portal which can then be opened in supported NLEs

There are many more applications not listed here that it can be used for.

Requirements

A screen/desktop size that is at least 1280pixels wide should be used so that the viewer player and canvas player can sit side by side.

Rough Cut Editor works best in Google Chrome

For long form content (over 10 minutes), we recommend having at least Gigabit connectivity to the Portal installation, particularly when using Google Chrome.

Light Usage

For light usage the above browsers and operating systems should be fine with 8Gb or more of RAM.

Heavy Usage

For heavy or or fast usage it is recommended to use modern multi-core processors along with discreet graphics cards from Nvidia or AMD.

Notes

Browser Support

The Rough Cut Editor is created for use in modern browsers that can play back video natively without the need for plugins. This means that older browsers are not supported. In particular this means that Internet Explorer 1 to version 8 is not supported by this tool, and Mozilla Firefox is currently not supported.

For Browser Support see Recommended Environment in the User Documentation.

It should also be noted that different browsers have different capabilities in running the tool as their Javascript engines vary in performance.

Note

Scrubbing in the Video creates lots of request to the backend and requires high bandwidth for smooth experience.

Using the Rough Cut Editor

Please read the following section before you start using the Rough Cut Editor.

Starting the Rough Cut Editor

Once installed and you have the correct permissions there are two ways to start the Rough Cut Editor:

1. Open existing sequences

2. Create a new sequence by opening the RCE.

Opening existing sequences

This can be done by either using the gearbox menu in search results or collection views or by viewing the item page of a sequence and using its gearbox menu.

Creating a new sequence

There is a menu item under “Manage” in the main menu, entitled “Rough Cut Editor”. Clicking on this will open up the Rough Cut Editor with no sequence saved.

When starting like this it always defaults to 25frames per second and a 10 seconds long timeline is shown. The first material dragged on to the timeline will dictate the framerate for that sequence, and if its longer than 10 seconds the timeline length will expand to fit the edit.

Note

Its not possible to have mixed frame rate or variable frame rate sequences at this time.

Rough Cut Editor Overview

The RCE is made up of 4 main interface elements to enable you to quickly and easily build up sequences and then edit them.

• Source Panel - for finding content.

• Viewer Player - for previewing content and defining edits

• Canvas Player - for playing the complete sequence.

• Timeline - for information on the current sequence, and showing a graphical representation of the edits.

Below you will find more information on each of these interface elements.

Warning

Navigating away from the Rough Cut Editor to another page will lose unsaved edits. Save regularly.

Source Panel

The source panel allows you to find material that can be used in the sequences. It currently only supports video elements.

Search allows you to find video source material by searching on keywords. Clicking on an item will open that item up in the Viewer Player. You can also drag to the timeline.

Timeline overview of how the sequence is built up with source material. It shows the title of the source media, in and outpoints on the source material and the duration of the edit. You can click on the row for the source material to select the edit in the viewer player and show it in the timeline. You can also remove the edit from here, it won’t delete the source material from the system just remove it from the sequence.

Warning

Please be aware that there is no undo for removing an edit.

You can drag from the source panel:

When you get over the timeline a blue guide will be shown as to where the source material will be placed in the sequence:

Dragging from the source panel will mean the entire source material will be used in the edit. It is usually advantageous to click, open in the viewer player and then mark in and out points before sending that edit to the timeline with the keybindings.

Viewer Player

The viewer player serves the purpose of giving you a preview of material from the source panel, and defining edits before placing them on the timeline.

Preview mode

By clicking items in the source panel it will load a proxy video into the viewer player for you to view. The keybindings work for playing, pause, step forward and back. And you can mark in-point and out-point either with the keybindings or using the buttons beneath the player.

There are also buttons for jump to inpoint and jump to outpoint if you have already defined those inpoints.

If you define an inpoint, and not an outpoint the outpoint will be the end of the video. If you define an outpoint and not an inpoint then the inpoint will be the start of the video. Pressing inpoint or outpoint when one has currently been defined will move that point to the current timecode that the playhead currently is at.

Note

Edits need to be at least one frame long.

You can add the edit to the timeline by either using the keyboard shortcuts or by using the buttons underneath the viewer player.

• Add to end - This will add the current edit to the end of the sequence.

• Add after - Will add the current edit after the edit in the sequence that they timeline playhead is currently over.

• Add before - Will add the current edit before the edit in the sequence that they timeline playhead is currently over.

If you do not define an edit by setting in and outpoints and then add” to the sequence the entire clip loaded into the viewer player will be used as an edit for the sequence.

Changing an edit in a sequence

The viewer player can also used by the timeline for showing a currently selected edit’s source material so that you can make adjustments to the inpoint and outpoint.

When clicking on an edit in the timeline it will replace any video currently loaded in the viewer player and mark the inpoint and outpoints on the viewer players scrub bar. You can adjust the inpoint and outpoint, by marking new inpoints and outpoints and they will be updated in the sequence straight away.

Note

You can’t add the current edit again to the sequence. Choose source material again and then add that to the sequence.

Canvas Player

The canvas player will playback the complete timeline and enables you to see where in the timeline you currently are whilst scrubbing or editing or putting together your sequence. It responds to the keybindings when it is in focus.

The canvas player also tells you:

• Current position of the timeline in SMPTE timecode.

• The total length of the sequence.

Buttons are there for you to use, but we recommend learning the keyboard shortcuts to control playback.

Timeline

The timeline shows a graphical representation of the edits over time. With the zero time starting to the left, to the total length of the edit going to the right. The edits show up as boxes on this timeline with their inpoint being to the left and their outpoint being to their right.

Above the edits in the timeline is a playhead scrubber with timeline label markers indicating how long the current sequence is. The playhead follows the currently time of the canvas viewer. You can scrub on either to update the position of the canvas viewer in the sequence.

Zoom buttons allow you to zoom in and out of the timeline so that you can bring more of the timeline into view or zoom into more accurately edit a section of the current sequence.

When you click on an edit in the timeline it will load the source material into the Viewer Player and change the color of the edit to blue. You can then drag the material to change the order, or move the in and outpoints of the edit. As the material is in the Viewer Player you can also change the in and out points and it will be updated immediately in the sequence.

Sequence Panel

The sequence panel to the left of the timeline tells you the following information:

• Sequence title - A metadata string for the title of the current sequence.

• ID - The current unique ID of the sequence. Click on this if its not set to none to visit the item page for the current sequence.

• FPS - The current framerate of the sequence. This always inherits from the first edit in the sequence.

• Length - The length of the sequence in SMPTE timecode. Format

You are also give save buttons. Please see the section for “Saving a Sequence” for more information on saving.

Typical Workflows

There are some typical workflows that are often done in the Rough Cut Editor.

Compiling A Sequence

• Search for material in the source panel.

• Click to preview and playback in the viewer.

• In the viewer set in and out points.

• Add that edit to the timeline.

• Search again and repeat editing and adding as needed.

• Finally playback in the canvas player.

• Make adjustments as needed in the timeline.

• Save the sequence.

New Sequence Item from 1 clip

• Search for the clip that you want in the source panel.

• Drag the clip from the source panel to the timeline.

• Adjust the inpoints and outpoints in the timeline or in the viewer player.

• Playback in the canvas player to check your edit

• Save the sequence.

Searching For Material

Using the Source Panel you can perform basic keyword searches to find video material that you have access to in the system.

Defining Edits and Adding to Timeline

When you have found the material that you want in the Source Panel clicking on it will open it in the Viewer Player. From here you can scrub or playback until you find the inpoint that you wish to use. At this point click on the “add in point button” or press ‘i’ on your keyboard, this will add a marker for the inpoint.

Scrub or playback until you find the out point that you wish to use, and click on the out marker button or press “o” on your keyboard to add an outpoint. You will find before you do this an outpoint had already been added which was to the end of the source material.

Once you are happy with the edit, and you can change the position of the inpoint or outpoint by repeating the steps of finding the frame and placing the markers, you can add the edit to the timeline.

Pressing ‘e’ on the keyboard will add the edit to the sequence. You can also add it before an edit that is currently on the timeline or after by clicking the shortcuts (see section for keybindings).

Manipulation of Edits in the Timeline

You can click an edit in the timeline to select it and it will load that edit’s source material into the viewer player. You will also be given handles which will let you adjust the inpoint and outpoint to the maximum allowed by the source material (this means that you can’t make an outpoint that is longer in time that the material itself).

The order of the edits on the sequence can be changed by dragging in the center of the edit and moving to the left of the preceding or to the right of the following edit.

Playing Back a Sequence

Playing back of the sequence in the timeline is done by using the Canvas Viewer. Obviously you must have edits in the timeline before you can do this.

You may use the keybindings to navigate the sequence or use the playhead in the timeline and the playhead in the canvas viewer to scrub through the material. The usual keybindings for play/pause, forward work here as well.

Saving a Sequence

When you have a new sequence you can choose to save it back to the system by adding a (optional) title and then clicking the save button. If you need to change the title or have subsequently changed the sequence clicking save will update the copy of the sequence on the server.

If you have already saved and want a new copy of this sequence choose “Save As New”.

Note

Refreshing the page of a saved sequence will reload that sequence as it is on the server. You will lose any unsaved changes by doing this.

To render a sequence a render button is provided. Save the sequence, then click on the render button. A dialog will appear asking which format to render to from those available to you as a user. The job will happen in the background on the server and the video file will be associated with the current sequence.

Keybindings

The following are keybindings for the Rough Cut Editor tool.

Key	Binding
I	Mark In
O	Mark Out
<space>	Stop/Start playback
<	Frame back
>	Frame forward
j	Backwards or reduce playback speed*
k	Reset
l	Forwards or increase playback speed
q	Add edit before the current edit
w	Add edit after the current edit
e	Add edit to the end of the timeline
shift+i	Go to the in marker
shift+o	Go to the out marker
+	Zoom out timeline
-	Zoom in timeline
p	Switch focus between players
<tab>	Switch focus between players
r	Remove highlighted edit
<del>	Remove highlighted edit
<backspace>	Remove highlighted edit

• Only certain browsers can currently play backwards.